What it adds isn’t clutter. It’s vertical tension in the right places. One tall, quiet bird on a pale background, and suddenly the wall has a centre. The grey feathers keep things soft, while the orange-red bill and legs give a small jolt of warmth that reads across a room. Hang it at eye level in a hallway, above a writing desk, or between windows where the pale background catches the daylight. Pair it with linen, aged leather, cane and pale ceramics. What not to do: crowd it with heavy pattern or busy florals on the same wall, and skip a dark wall colour behind it, which swallows the pale paper background. As a canvas the surface stays matt, so the pale background reads soft rather than bright.